It's always nice when family has your back. So it should come as a great relief to hear that Tim Berners-Lee, father of the World Wide Web, opposes recent controversial web freedom-limiting legislation such as SOPA and PIPA.

At press conference for the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) he made clear his belief that the internet does not and should not revolve around the music industry, nor should oppressive laws be set in place to protect record labels from piracy:

"[L]aws have been created which make out as if the only problem on the internet is teenagers stealing music. The world is bigger than that. The internet is bigger than the music industry. The economic impact of the internet is bigger than the music industry."

Downloading and listening to music are only a small part of what is going on online, he said, maintaining that much of what the web is used for is social. What he does support is a paid model of music acquisition, something that would make sure the artists are being compensated for their work. [Ars Technica - Image via AllABoutJazz]